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July 26, 2006
Rookie minutes
I've gotten a couple of e-mails asking how much Lakers fans should expect Jordan Farmar to play as a rookie. Those kind of decisions won't be made until training camp at the earliest; unless I'm wrong, Phil Jackson didn't attend any of his summer league games at the Pyramid.
But if you're looking for an over/under, how about 11.6 minutes per game? That's the average that a first-round draft pick has played for a Jackson-coached team as a rookie. Stacey King averaged the most minutes of any Jackson rookie (21.6) back in the 1989-90 season. He also was a No. 6 overall pick.
Kareem Rush and Luke Walton (a second-round pick) both averaged double-digit minutes and played in 70-plus games as rookies. Brian Cook averaged 12.5 minutes but played in only 35 games. Devean George averaged about the same minutes (7.0) on a 67-15 team as Andrew Bynum did out of high school (7.3) on a 45-37 team.
It is going to be difficult for Farmar to find minutes with the Lakers having four ball-handling guards (Smush Parker, Shammond Williams, Sasha Vujacic and Farmar) on the roster. Keep in mind the Lakers can activate only 12 players total for each game.
They also have the option of having Farmar play for their NBA Development League team, which they don't with Vujacic now in his third year. And you have to assume that Andrew Bynum will be on the active roster all or most of next season as the Lakers try to get him NBA minutes.
Right now, I'm going with the under on 11.6 minutes per game, but you never know.
Posted by Ross Siler at July 26, 2006 10:17 AM